Photo Frame
by OneYandereGirl
Summary: Genre: One-shot Rating: T Sasuhina Month 2019 Theme: Day 3 (Post-War) A/N: I wrote this during Sasuhina Month 2019 on Tumblr, but never got to upload it here. Please enjoy.


Pieces of splintered wood and shattered glass laid beneath her feet.

The wooden floors were a mess, though she was unsure why. All she had heard was the sound of something falling. When she ran into the room to see what had happened, all she saw were broken glass and wood. She slowly searched for the source of the fragmented pieces with desperation. Her panicked heart somehow knowing where it was despite not seeing it. And when her feet had finally stopped moving, she found herself standing before one of the walls near the windowsill with the fallen object just a few inches away.

A picture frame.

Before the war, for the longest time, the relationship between Hinata, her sister Hanabi, and their cousin Neji had been strained. This was especially true between Neji and herself, due to the circumstances of their clan. There was much hatred towards her. It was also due to her clan that there had been virtually no relationship between herself and Hanabi either.

She remembered the days where she would idly sit alone in her room reflecting on the mistakes she had done to deserve the punishment she had received during clan training. She would view her cousin and her sister with jealousy and envy wondering why she, who was supposed to be the next heir to the Hyuga line, was such a failure.

She remembered watching the two from afar, training with each other through combat, wishing she could join them. She would watch in wonder as they clashed head on towards each other with such skill and grace that it would make her feel hopeful that perhaps someday she too could display such talent.

For years, she yearned for their affection and respect with little results. Still, she never gave up despite the negative feelings that would occasionally arise. And after a long time, on one fateful day, her wish became a reality.

She remembered clearly how Naruto, the boy she had feelings for at the time, had broken the walls of hatred that Neji surrounded himself with through their fight during the Chunin exams. It was that fateful day that the wheels had slowly started turning for Hinata. The once strained relationship between her and Neji slowly began to heal.

Soon her idly days alone were filled with days spent with her dear cousin. Not long afterwards, the relationship with her younger sister also began to heal, and soon she too started to join them. It was then, she had finally started to feel the warmth of affection from her family. Although it wasn't perfect, it was a start.

It made Hinata happy.

On her sixteenth birthday, despite the winter chill, Hanabi and Neji had insisted on going out to celebrate. She remembered their embarrassment as they scrambled to pull out the gift they had wanted to give her for her birthday. It was poorly wrapped in lavender paper with a messily tied blue ribbon. When she opened the present, she had found herself looking at a picture frame made of maple wood painted with lavender. The picture frame held a photo of the three of them that was taken during the cherry blossom viewing earlier in the year. The bottom corner had been carved with their names. Neji had handmade the frame, while Hanabi had taken the photo and developed it.

It was the proof of their relationship.

And now that had been destroyed.

She unconsciously reached for the pieces in hopes of being able to salvage it.

Nothing.

The frame was too broken to fix. The photo had tears due to the broken glass. The only thing still intact was a piece of the frame that held their carved names. It was small, but Hinata still reached for it with desperation. She held the splintered piece of wood towards her chest as if it were her life line. She gripped it so tightly that she did not notice the blood dripping out from her hands.

" Hinata!"

Hinata could feel a hand violently grip her as she felt herself being spun around until her eyes were faced with a pair of black ones staring directly at her.

" What are you doing?"

It was Sasuke.

Ever since the war had ended, Hinata had found herself constantly drawn to the man. She wasn't sure of the reason, but it seemed that it was always him who would find her during these moments of grief. It started as a mere coincidence, but eventually she started to wonder if it truly was.

It didn't matter though.

Because that wasn't the focus at the moment.

Hinata looked at the blood dripping from her hand. The red liquid had splattered onto the piece of wood that she had tried to hold. It had covered Neji's name and stained it.

" He still hasn't forgiven me." she sadly whispered.

After a moment of silence, she could feel herself being pulled by him into bed. She felt a cool sensation as Sasuke gently wiped her face with a towel. The scent of hot tea lingered in the air as she could hear a cup being placed by her table side. The piece of wood that she had grabbed earlier was also sitting on the table as well.

" You should rest. I'll clean up." he said as he left the room to grab some supplies.

As she watched him clean up the mess in silence, she wondered how many times Sasuke had helped her already. This wasn't the first time he had helped her like this. It felt almost routine at this point.

She would have thought it would be her sister or her friends that would have helped her, yet it somehow ended up being him.

It always ended up being him.

Sasuke had helped her so many times ever since the war ended that the scene playing out in front of her felt familiar. It felt almost nostalgic. She couldn't describe her feelings at the moment, but Hinata couldn't stop watching him because of it. Although he would rarely speak in these situations, he never stopped helping her during her grieving.

It made her feel warm.

" Thank you." she whispered.

He stopped for a moment to look at her. The way his eyes gently stared at hers never failed to surprise her.

" You don't need to thank me," he replied.

" Why?" she asked.

" Because I want to do this."

His expression never changed, yet she could feel as if he wanted to say something else but stopped himself. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but she never probe further because she didn't want to push him more than what he had already done for her. Sasuke was, after all, a man of few words.

Still, she was appreciative of his actions.

So she didn't say anything else, but continued to watch him. In turn, he went back to cleaning up the mess and the room soon became quiet once more. By the time Sasuke had finished cleaning her room, Hinata had already fallen asleep. Sitting next to her bed, he soon fell asleep too.

When she woke up later, Hinata could feel something warm holding her hand.

It was his hand wrapped around hers.

Another familiar scene that had happened countless times before, yet it still surprised her every time it occurred. Whether it was intentional or not she didn't know, but the warmth of his hand made Hinata feel safe. She couldn't help but squeeze it as if it was to reassure herself that this was real. And it was. It always was.

And just like all the times before, when she confirmed it to be real, the warmth of his hand would spread throughout her body and a mixture of feelings would arise. Unfamiliar and familiar, she would take a short moment to ponder over these feelings before letting them disappear once more.

Hinata stared at him again before falling back to sleep.

When she did, she made sure to keep her hand wrapped around his.

It had been a few weeks since that incident.

During that time both Hanabi and Sasuke visited her often, making sure she was never alone. Despite this, none of her friends had found out. She was grateful for that because she knew they would have made an even bigger deal out of it than it was already.

Still, she wondered what would have happened that day if Sasuke hadn't caught her.

He had left sometime during the night that day. By the time she had woken up, she had found out that he had left for a mission. She wished she could have seen him before he had left. She wanted to thank him once more for all of his help.

Hinata looked at the sunflowers planted by her porch. Sasuke had helped her plant those a while back after she had experienced another episode of her grief. Her sister had suggested it in hopes that it would brighten her up a bit more, so Sasuke had gone out of his way to buy them the next day. It had taken hours to prepare the small garden, due to their inexperience in planting, but eventually they had finished the task. When the flowers finally bloomed, Hanabi had taken it upon herself to take a picture of the two of them as a reward for their hard work.

The memory made her smile.

" Hey."

Hinata turned towards the voice and saw a man jumping down from the fence.

" Sasuke-kun?"

His clothes were dirty, and he was drenched with sweat. It seemed he had just returned from his mission. She quickly made some tea while he sat down. She was not expecting him to come to her so soon.

" Welcome back, but shouldn't you go home to rest first?" she asked as she poured a cup of tea for him.

He quickly drank the contents before helping himself to another cup. Sasuke seemed exhausted.

" I'm fine. I'll rest later, but I wanted to give you something first."

Reaching into his bag, Hinata could see him pull a box out before handing it to her. The box was wrapped with blue wrapping paper with a small lavender bow on it.

" What's this?" she curiously asked.

There was no special occasion coming up, and it wasn't her birthday either, so Hinata was surprised to have received a present from him. She glanced at him to see if he would tell her, but she knew he was not planning on it by the expression on his face.

" Open it." he whispered.

The gentle voice he used startled Hinata. He rarely talked in such a tone. She could tell he was a bit embarrassed.

Yet it only made her more curious.

Carefully unwrapping the gift, she opened the box to see what was inside.

She gasped.

Inside the box was a black wooden frame that held the picture of her, Hanabi, and Neji together.

The same photo that had been torn a few weeks ago.

She could see their names carved on the bottom corner of the frame. She noticed two cracks around the corner and a slight hint of lavender paint. Running her fingers through the lines, she recognized the familiar piece that seemed to be slightly different from the rest of the frame.

It was the same piece of wood from the old photo frame.

Hinata was too shocked to speak.

" I took the piece you held in your hands and made a new frame for you. I tried to restore the photo, but it was harder than I thought. Luckily your sister still had a copy of it. My craftsmanship isn't the best, but I managed to make it work somehow. It's not as nice looking as the old one, so I hope you don't mind it too much. I finished my mission early, but I wanted to make sure this got done so I travelled a bit longer to see if I could get everything I needed for this. I hope you like it."

She held the frame gently against her chest and closed her eyes, taking in all the words he had said and all the things he had done for her. Hinata was grateful. She was grateful to have him here in her life. He had done so much for her to help her process her grief without asking for anything in return. Despite what the world may say about him and the rumors surrounding him, she would never let it affect the feelings she was feeling for him at this very moment.

" Thank you. Thank you for everything,"

She smiled at him with all of her heart before looking at the picture frame again.

" Sasuke-kun."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to be curious.

" What is it?"

" If it's okay, do you mind carving your name here next to mine?"

" Why?" he asked.

Hinata looked at him with another smile.

" Because you made this for me. Although you aren't in the picture, you still made the frame that holds the photo together. I don't want to forget that. I want to remember that it was you who did this for me. I want to remember, so I won't forget. So is it okay if you carve your name on here?"

Sasuke nodded his head before taking a kunai knife out. With the swiftest slices, he carved his name neatly next to hers. Once he was done, he handed the frame back to her.

She touched the newly carved name in confirmation before returning to admire the whole thing again.

" Hinata."

She turned her head towards him.

" He forgives you. I know he does." he said.

The look he gave her was a serious, yet gentle one.

" What if he doesn't?" she softly questioned.

" If he doesn't, then I'll just keep fixing everything until he does."

A moment of silence passed before Hinata started to laugh.

Grief was such a funny thing sometimes. Although she wasn't sure Neji would ever forgive her, the words that Sasuke had spoken touched her. It felt ridiculous and silly to think about.

Yet despite it all, she couldn't help but believe in those words.

" Okay."

And for the first time in a while, Hinata felt as if her heart had become lighter.


End file.
